Harrison Dillard is the only man to ever win Olympic gold medals in both the sprints and high hurdles. Overall, he won four Olympic gold medals, also taking two in the 4x100 relays in 1948 and 1952.
When Dillard was 13 years old, he attended a parade in Cleveland honoring triple-gold-medalist Jesse Owens upon his return from the 1936 Olympics. Dillard later met Owens, who presented him with his first pair of running shoes. Known as "Bones" because of his spindly size, Dillard attended Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, where he won four national collegiate titles in the high and low hurdles. He also took 14 AAU outdoor titles in the high and low hurdles and lost the opportunity for more because of the outbreak of World War II.
After winning 82-straight hurdles races, Dillard failed to make the 1948 Olympic team as a hurdler but qualified in the 100 meters. In London, he outleaned the favored Barney Ewell of the U.S. to win the gold medal. Four years later, he won the gold medal in his trademark event, the 110m hurdles, narrowly beating American Jack Davis. An outstanding starter, Dillard was virtually unbeatable indoors, winning the AAU 60-yard hurdles seven years in a row from 1947 through 1953 and again in 1955. A world record holder in both the high and low hurdles, Dillard won the 1953 Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete.